Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ovens and, more particularly, to ovens that may allow a user to conveniently remove a rack on which an object to be cooked is seated, thereby achieving enhanced usability.
Discussion of the Related Art
Ovens may be referred to as home appliances that cook an object by applying heat thereto. Such an oven generally includes a cabinet defining an external appearance of the oven and a chamber defined in the cabinet to receive an object to be cooked (hereinafter referred to as cooking object).
The interior space of the chamber may be heated to an extremely high temperature. The cooking object within the chamber is cooked using the high temperature. There are a variety of ovens including ovens that use fossil fuel, ovens that use electricity, ovens that use steam, and the like. Of course, these heat sources may be used in combination.
The cabinet may be provided with a rotatable door. The door serves to open or close the chamber. More specifically, the door closes the chamber to isolate the interior space of the chamber from the outside during cooking and then, upon completion of cooking, opens the chamber to communicate the interior space of the chamber with the outside.
In many cases, a rack on which the cooking object is seated may be placed within the chamber. The rack may function to assist the cooking object in being positioned in the interior space of the chamber such that high temperature atmosphere within the chamber is transferred to the cooking object. That is, the rack may function to cause the cooking object to be indirectly cooked via the high temperature atmosphere without direct contact between the cooking object and the heat source.
To cook the cooking object, a user will first open the door and seat the cooking object on the rack placed within the chamber. In this case, the user must extend their hand deep into the chamber. Since the cooking object is generally placed on the rack after the interior of the chamber is preheated to a high temperature, the user has to wear oven mitts when placing the cooking object. Of course, removing the cooking object immediately after completion of cooking or removing the cooking object during cooking to check progress of cooking may inconvenience the user. That is, the user may suffer from great inconvenience when placing or removing the cooking object in or from the high temperature chamber. In particular, a process of placing or removing a heavy cooking object in or from the chamber by hand may be troublesome to the user and cause strain to the user's body. These problems may be further worsened when the rack is fixed in the chamber so as not to be removed outward.
To solve the aforementioned problems, as exemplarily shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there are provided ovens in which a rack may be removed out of a chamber.
Referring to FIG. 1, the oven, designated by reference numeral 10, includes a cabinet 20, a chamber 25 defined in the cabinet 20 to receive a cooking object, and a door 30 pivotally rotatably connected to the cabinet 20. When a user, designated by reference character “a”, grips a handle 40 of the door 30 and opens the door 30, the chamber 25 may communicate with the outside. The door 30 is generally a pull-down type door that is opened as the user grips the handle 40 installed near an upper end of the door 30 and pivotally rotates the door 30 downward.
FIG. 2 shows the interior of the chamber 25 in a completely opened state of the door 20 provided in the oven 10 shown in FIG. 1. Generally, the door 20 may be rotated 90 degrees to be opened.
As exemplarily shown in FIG. 2, a rack 50 is slidably supported by rack supporters 60.
The rack 50 is a component on which a cooking object c is seated. Cooking may be performed after the cooking object c is seated on the rack 50. Of course, the cooking object c may be seated on the rack 50 while being placed on or received in a cooking utensil b.
FIG. 2 shows a configuration in which the rack 50 may be removed from the chamber 25 as the user pulls the rack 25 and the rack 50 may be introduced into the chamber 25 as the user pushes the rack 25. However, in the case of the oven having the above-described configuration, the user has to directly grip and operate the rack 50. In addition, this operation must be continued until the rack 50 is completely removed or introduced by a predetermined distance. Therefore, the rack 50 is inconvenient to use and removal and introduction of the rack 50 may not be smoothly performed due to friction between the rack 50 and the rack supporters 60. Of course, the slidable rack 50 inevitably causes the user's hand to be exposed to a high temperature environment for a long time, in the same manner as in use of a fixed rack.
Referring to FIG. 2, the cabinet 20 is provided with a chamber opening 26 and a gasket 70 mounted around the chamber opening 26. When the door 30 is closed, an inner surface of the door 30 comes into close contact with the gasket 70, thus allowing the interior of the chamber 25 to be sealed.
FIG. 3 shows an oven having an improved configuration as compared to the oven shown in FIG. 2. More particularly, the oven is configured to achieve smoother removal and introduction of the rack 50 via sliding rails 80.
In this configuration, each sliding rail 80 is interposed between a support bracket 60 fixed inside the chamber 25 and a rack bracket 51 fixed to the rack 50. That is, the rack bracket 51 is movable relative to the support bracket 60 via the sliding rail 80.
However, the sliding rack structure basically causes the same problems as the oven shown in FIG. 1, although it provides smoother removal and introduction of the rack 50. For example, the user may still have to grip and operate the high temperature rack until removal or introduction of the rack is completed.
For this reason, there is a need to provide an oven that may provide easy removal and introduction of a rack and allow a user to operate the rack with minimum motion and time. In addition, there is a need to provide an oven that may minimize the frequency and time of the user's hand being exposed to a high temperature environment and to allow a user to operate a rack from the outside of a chamber.